Tsarnaev's friend indicted, accused of lying to FBI

Robel Phillipos charged with making false statements

A federal grand jury has indicted a Cambridge teenager charged with making false statements during the Boston Marathon bombing investigation.

Robel Phillipos, 19, is charged with two counts of making false statements.

The indictment also charges Dias Kadyrbayev, 19, and Azamat Tazhayakov, 19, both of New Bedford, with conspiring to obstruct justice and obstructing justice with the intent to impede a terrorism investigation.

According to investigators, Phillipos concealed the fact that he, Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov had gone into Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s dorm room on the evening of April 18 and removed Tsarnaev’s backpack from his room.

Kadyrbayev, Tazhayakov, and Phillipos, according to the indictment, went to Tsarnaev’s dormitory room and removed several items, including Tsarnaev’s laptop computer and a backpack containing fireworks, and brought them to Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov’s apartment in New Bedford.

Later that night, Kadyrbayev, with Tazhayakov’s knowledge and agreement, placed Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s backpack, which contained several items, including fireworks, in a garbage bag and placed it in a dumpster outside their New Bedford apartment.

The government says Phillipos made numerous false and misleading statements to the agents.

Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov are both nationals of Kazakhstan who were temporarily living in the United States pursuant to student visas.

If convicted, Phillipos faces a maximum penalty of up to eight years in federal prison on each of the two counts.

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